2000 Points Death Guard Army (Need Help)

[TheMrGasMask]

Hello everyone I need some help with a list of 2000 points of Death Guard I need to take for an upcoming event I am attending. At the current moment I have the very basics set for my army been a Traitor Death Guard with the Creeping Death Rite of War been taken. The only rules I have to follow is no Primarchs and only two Dreadnoughts along with anything needed with certain Rite of Wars (Mine been taking a Siege Breaker)

 

Besides the basics I am very stuck on what I can take in my 2000 Points and right now I have only got the following down:

 

HQ

Centurion (Warlord) - Siege Breaker - 105 Points

 

Troops

Tactical Squad - 10 Man Squad with Sergeant taking Artificer Armour and Power Fist - 125 Points

 

Right now this is all I can think of taking but need some help to make a good list that might get me a win or two during the event, any feedback and help is most appreciated :)  

[HeinzD]

Hey, so named characters and Legacies are allowed? Because you still have a Master of the Legion to worry about. The DG doesnt really excell at preators, our warlord traits kinda suck, so you could go with Typhon in a command squad, he is an absolute beast in meele and destroys other retinues, warlords and dreadnoughts with ease, unless he stumbles upon the occasional sigismund or something. Your other fun option would be Marshal Durak Rask, out of Legacies of the Age of Darkness, he fills the slot of Master of the Legion and Siege Breaker in one, so he makes your list pretty lean and efficient. 

If you dont use rask, youd need something to put your Siegebreaker in, id suggest a heavy support squad with autocannons, rather cheap and has good synergy with the siegebreakers sunder. 

For troops id suggest to max the tactical squad out to 20 man and stick an apothacary in there, pretty durable core unit, that still packs quite a punch due to the synergy with fury of the legion. Since everyone will pretty much bring two dreads, id also reccomend breachers, the can pretty comfortably carry gravguns and not get slowed down by heavy, like other legions and chip away at those pesky contemptors. A unit of recons is also always welcome, to keep at bay enemy heavy support squads, pinning or forcing a return fire from a 10 man lascannon squad is worth so much. 

Also, if your goal is to win some rounds and not to make friends, id 100% bring those two conemtors, probably with fist and multimelta, to be your answers to other dreads and a big theat to basically anything that gets close to them. Another unit to absolutely bring to win would be the scorpion, id bring two, its just a pretty annoying and very cost efficient unit, being the bane of elite infantry and backfield heavy support units, enjoying the nuncio vox of your siegebreaker/rask, sitting safely in your nasty creeping death deployment zone, all while being 100% mobile, due to our Legion trait 

 

 

[SlickSamos]

Hi Mr Gas Mask (perfect DG user name),

 

Is it a narrative event or a competitive tournament?  Are the missions objective based or something else?

 

From what I understand with Line being so important it's best to take at least 3 Line units - some designated as holders (e.g. Tactical and Recon Marines) and some designated as takers (e.g. Assault, Dispoiler and Command Squads).  Also with the format being 0-2 Dreads, if it is not a narrative event, expect 2 dreads in every army as Heinz already mentioned.

At 2000 points it's usually around 8-10 units, if we take 2 Dreads, 2x 15 man Tacts (or 1x 15 man Tact and 1x 10 man Recon), 15 man Dispoiler / 10 man Assault, MotL Warlord with Command Squad that would be 6 units and be about 1400 points.  As we're talking Death Guard, the most improved unit is the Heavy Support Squad - taking a small Missile Launcher or Autocannon Squad and a small Lascannon Squad will push the points to around 1600 and get us to 8 Units (4 Line & 2 Dreads).  

I find building a framework like the above breaks the back of the decision paralysis of a blank piece of paper as then you really only have one more unit choice to make, then just bulk out your squads and choose their equipment.

 

For Creeping Death specifically - I completely agree with Heinz that Durak Rask is your best choice as it lets you ditch the Preator w/ Command Squad and saves a lot of points which equals more guns.

 

Example starting list for narrative event (~1500 pts):

 

Rite of War: Creeping Death 

 

Durak Rask (Warlord) - 165 pts

 

 

Castra Ferrum Talon - 345 pts

- 1 w/ LC, ML & Targeting Array*

- 1 w/ LC & PF

 

Either:

15 Dispoilers w/ Vex - 205 pts

- Sarge w/ Sabre & Tox

- 3x Tox

- 3x Maul

Or:

10 Assault Marines - 180 pts

- Sarge w/ Sabre & Tox

- 2x Tox

- 2x Maul

 

Either:

15 Tacticals w/ Vex & Bayonets - 201 pts

- Sarge w/ PF, Tox and Arty

Or:

10 Recon - 205 pts

- 4x Bolters

- 6x Snipers

 

15 Tacticals w/ Vex & Bayonets - 201 pts

- Sarge w/ PF, Tox and Arty

 

7 Heavy Support Marines w/ LCs - 200 pts 

 

9 Heavy Support Marines w/ MLs or ACs - 205 pts 

 

For the final ~500 pts I'd prioritise adding an additional line unit and an additional melee unit before bulking out the existing squads.  Perhaps a Herald in a Veteran or Terminator Squad or a second Assault Squad and bulk both up to 15 men?

 

Hope this helps!

 

Slick Samos 

 

*Note: I'm not sure about the interaction between the DG rules and the Helical Targeting Array (it's not covered in the FAQ so check with the tournament organisers...) - but if you can ignore the stationary requirement a Lascannon / Missile Launcher Castra Ferrum Dreadnought with one could be excellent!

[Varyn]

Heavy support squads with multimeltas are also a good unit for DG, having a 31” threat range as they can move and fire. They’re not technically as good as lascannons, but they feel more thematic to me.

 

The other recommendations above are good too. Make sure you have tools to deal with contemptors!

 

Grave wardens are a fun unit, just make sure you have enough line units, 15 man tactical squads with an apothecary are solid.